Tuesday, February 01, 2005
WSIS 101 - the story in a nutshell
By Haru Mutasa
ACCRA- In rural communities of Africa owning a computer is out of the question. Where computers do exist there aren’t enough or are too expensive for everyone to use.
Subsistence wages do not begin to cover the cost of hardware, software or computer lessons that facilitate access to information on the economy, education and healthcare information that could help improve living standards for millions of people around the world.
This inequality of knowledge, among and within countries, is known as the "digital divide" - the gap between the technology haves and have-nots. In 1998 the International Telecommunication Union, on the recommendation of the government of Tunisia, placed the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on the United Nations agenda. The summit was to be a platform for the international community to come together, debate and agree on a common vision for the Information Society with the ultimate goal of bridging this digital divide.
Plans were put in place to hold the summit in two phases, the first in Geneva Switzerland in December 2003, and the second in Tunisia, in November later this year.
Preparations for the summit took place through open-ended, intergovernmental Preparatory Committee meetings or PrepComs. PrepComs define the agenda of the Summit, participation of other stakeholders, and finalise both the draft Declaration of Principles and the draft Plan of Action. Four PrepComs have been held so far, three ahead of the Geneva summit, and the last one, to prepare for the second phase, took place in Hammamet, Tunisia in June this year.
The first African regional conference, known as Bamako 2002, was held in Mali. The meeting sensitised African countries to the importance of the WSIS process and laid down the foundations to formulate Africa’s vision for building an inclusive, information society.
The second African Regional Preparatory Conference in Accra will launch regional preparations for the second phase in Tunis (November 2005). Participants are expected, among other things, to come up with a regional action plan on major ICT issues affecting the continent - including the remaining two unsolved issues of the Geneva phase, namely internet governance and financing the information society.
The next WSIS PrepCom, is set for Geneva Switzerland later this month.
ACCRA- In rural communities of Africa owning a computer is out of the question. Where computers do exist there aren’t enough or are too expensive for everyone to use.
Subsistence wages do not begin to cover the cost of hardware, software or computer lessons that facilitate access to information on the economy, education and healthcare information that could help improve living standards for millions of people around the world.
This inequality of knowledge, among and within countries, is known as the "digital divide" - the gap between the technology haves and have-nots. In 1998 the International Telecommunication Union, on the recommendation of the government of Tunisia, placed the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on the United Nations agenda. The summit was to be a platform for the international community to come together, debate and agree on a common vision for the Information Society with the ultimate goal of bridging this digital divide.
Plans were put in place to hold the summit in two phases, the first in Geneva Switzerland in December 2003, and the second in Tunisia, in November later this year.
Preparations for the summit took place through open-ended, intergovernmental Preparatory Committee meetings or PrepComs. PrepComs define the agenda of the Summit, participation of other stakeholders, and finalise both the draft Declaration of Principles and the draft Plan of Action. Four PrepComs have been held so far, three ahead of the Geneva summit, and the last one, to prepare for the second phase, took place in Hammamet, Tunisia in June this year.
The first African regional conference, known as Bamako 2002, was held in Mali. The meeting sensitised African countries to the importance of the WSIS process and laid down the foundations to formulate Africa’s vision for building an inclusive, information society.
The second African Regional Preparatory Conference in Accra will launch regional preparations for the second phase in Tunis (November 2005). Participants are expected, among other things, to come up with a regional action plan on major ICT issues affecting the continent - including the remaining two unsolved issues of the Geneva phase, namely internet governance and financing the information society.
The next WSIS PrepCom, is set for Geneva Switzerland later this month.
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